


Shimmering Sapphire and Enchanting Emerald

by thesalsagamer396



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Aquarium AU, Gen, MerGenji - Freeform, MerMay, MerMay 2018, Merfolk AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, marine hospital au, merhanzo, mermaid au, plot heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 14:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalsagamer396/pseuds/thesalsagamer396
Summary: Long ago, the sea would sparkle with the scales of fish-like humans...But those creatures grew feet to live on the land and hunted their majestic ancestors...





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I know I know, I promised something else. But, it was MerMay, and I was working on this for a year. As a special thank you for being patient with my ADHD self, I'll include the first chapter proper.

Every creature of the sea knew about the majestic serpentine creatures that ruled over the waters. The ocean was the domain of the serpents, and everything else was simply allowed to live in the water. They lived by the benevolence of these two beautiful creatures.

But only these two. They were the last two in the deep, vast ocean and they knew it.

Countless centuries ago, the whole ocean was filled with beautiful serpents. Colorful scales of priceless value covered just below the ocean’s surface, reflecting sunlight like finely cut precious gems. Some had evolved to live on land with two feet rather than fins. Those that walked the land bore children, who grew up to have children which created a new cycle of life, and the land walkers called themselves Humans. And those human children grew up to be greedy and inconsiderate of their oceanic ancestors. The serpents that were once their brothers and sisters became hunted for their gorgeous scales and the treasures they hoarded.

The humans would call them Dragons.

And the Dragons taught their children that the ones who walk on two feet are their predators. That the moment they see them, they would be killed by their hand-crafted weapons. The message was told, but barely received since the Dragon children almost never saw a Human. So, when a Dragon came too close to a strange floating thing on the sea…

It had been countless years since Hanzo’s father died to poachers. He didn’t trust humans after that. He grew up from the notion that maybe the stories of his ancestors were just stories to keep children away from land.

His younger brother Genji was his only kin after the passing of their father. Scales of shimmering emerald green complimented his older brother’s shining sapphire blue scales perfectly. When the elder Dragon thought his brother was lost to human hunters, he had mourned him in great sorrow. Many ocean creatures came to him to comfort him in his state of grieving.

Ten long years of grieving took place. But, the cries for the green dragon would turn to joyful ones on this particular day.

When his brother came back in perfect health, Hanzo was ecstatic. The brothers had held each other close while the creatures they ruled over celebrated, relieved that one of their kings was alive and well.

The Dragon Brothers stayed close to one another following his miraculous return.

When the celebrating was over, the serpents took the offerings of blessings and good will the creatures of their seas gave to them and swam to the ocean’s surface. Above the water line, an island stood proud and barren of Human life. On this island, the brothers’ shared hoard of treasure was kept safe in the aquatic caves hidden in the belly of the land. The island was split between the brothers. One half was Genji’s, and the other half was Hanzo’s.

All was in order on Hanzo’s half. He had carefully organized each bit of treasure with great purpose. Genji’s hoard was more or less a large pile he can rest his serpentine body on like a gaudy bed.

A clap of thunder shook the cave walls. The brothers looked at each other thoughtfully. To go out now would be a risk, if a storm was coming their way. They would wait out the storm with their hoard. When it cleared, they would go back to the depths of the ocean, safe from potential humans.


	2. Protecting the Stowaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does a caged dragon sing?

Overwatch was one of the most globally known Aquatic Hospitals/Aquariums in history. It dealt with injured sea animals like seals, dolphins, and even the occasional penguin. It also helped both freshwater and saltwater fish. They helped clean up garbage in the waters, cleaned up birds that were caught in oil spills, nursed injured animals back to health, and did their part to help endangered fish repopulate.

But even beyond that, they helped animals that no one wants to see. It’s not that it’s a secret. You could find out their big secret if you do a little digging on their website.

It’s only mentioned once, and it’s easily missed, but if look closely, you could find out about a section called “Blackwatch”.

Blackwatch dealt with deep sea creatures. The kind that are generally too disturbing for the general public. There have been a few cases where deep sea creatures had ended up on the shore of some unsuspecting tourist attraction. It was the job of Blackwatch to care for these terrifying creatures. Most of the time, it was a bit too risky to send them back to the deep sea, so there are special tanks made to help accommodate the freaky aquatic residents.

If you asked an employee to see Blackwatch, they will give you an obligatory warning that it may be disturbing in there. If you wanted to go anyway, they’d lead you through a door that said  **“AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY”** and handed you a pair of night vision goggles. Since this is creatures of the cold, dark deep sea, all lights were off. It would be pitch black in there without the night vision.

Then again, it’s such a rarity to see any new sea creatures wash up these days, working in Blackwatch was usually just a case of feeding these nightmares. And, after the initial fear settled down, it’s quite a boring day job.

Well, at least it was until the usual food delivery brought something a little extra one day.

A fisherman brought his usual delivery. A bunch of fish both for display and for food. And a…human sea snake?

Scales of shimmering emerald covered that fish-esque half of his body. Freckled pale green skin was stretched all across the human half of him. On his head was a mop of ink black hair that was cut unevenly that went as far as the middle of his neck. Despite the gills just below his jaws, he seemed to be breathing just fine in the dry air. His heartbeat was at a regular human beat, and no one could tell if this was his normal skin color, or if he lost a lot of blood on the way to Overwatch. But, judging by the lack of major cuts or injuries, many could say with confidence that it was the former.

So, now that Overwatch had some sort of merman, what would they do with him? They couldn’t keep him in the dark with the other deep sea creatures. The color of his scales alone told them that he was meant to be where sunlight would reflect off of vegetation in order to give him a sense of camouflage like many other fish. Yet, keeping him in Overwatch would mean that he’d become nothing than another attraction, and none of the employees wanted to make this majestic creature something as trivial as just that.

Of course, owner and co-founder of Overwatch Jack Morrison had a brilliant compromise.

This sea serpent of a man could live in one of the spare whale pools in the meantime.

It was the perfect idea. The whale pools were usually separate and isolated from the main Aquarium. It was usually used for training the Orcas for their big shows. Since their last Orca died of old age a mere year ago, there were no Orcas to train. With quite a bit of recreating of the ocean reef, the perfect place for the merman was created.

Maybe with him being human on his upper half, the sea serpent could communicate with them about his wants and needs.

Well, communicating with the green merman was not as easy as it would sound. He didn’t know Human languages, but a couple of years, and he was speaking in full sentences. They learned about how he was a king among the sea. He talked about how he was taught that Humans were the predators of the Dragons, how the Humans were descendants of the Dragons, how it was only him and his brother left, and how they were hunted down for their scales. He also expressed how surprised he was to know that these humans would be keeping him away from curious eyes and would be keeping him safe until they feel it’s safe to release him back to the sea.

In the meantime, the staff had kept him well fed and happy. They gave him bigger fish for him to hunt and chase in his pool, and they gave him small fish for companions. This was after he learned how to say “friends” and “food” to the humans.

Three years in his new residence, and the Dragon was growing bored of waiting to be released. He was tired of the same scenery and the same stories the fish tell him. If he was going to stay in this strange Human place, he wanted to hear new stories and play new games and learn new things.

It took a few weeks for an agreement to be made, but one that satisfied the Dragon was eventually made.

The Dragon saw a new face on his third year. A Human that was younger than usual. This one had short brown hair and brown eyes. She also looked much cheerier than most of the faces he saw. And she brought him some new companions. The Dragon was always sad when some of his aquatic companions died of old age, but getting new companions meant the potential of new stories.

“You must be the Fish Man! The old blokes said you were getting lonely! Well, no worries, luv! The Calvary’s here!” She exclaimed as she poured the fish into the pool before she climbed back down the ladder to watch him swim inside the thick glass walls containing him.

The green Dragon followed most of the fish in excitement. New friends to play with! He was ready to get to know these new friends, and—

The Human watched as the Dragon went from excited to somber. She watched him sink to the floor of his habitat and wrap himself in his scales, as if to protect himself from the world.

She walked up to the glass wall and put a hand on it. She felt bad for the majestic creature. What could make him seem so sad? He was rather content before. Was it something she did? Was he hoping for a specific fish?

The Dragon looked up to meet her gaze. He swam up to the glass wall and put his hand where she had put hers on the other side. He looked as if he was hoping this would communicate to her what was making him feel down. They held their gaze for one, two, three, four, five beats before the Dragon pointed up and swam to the surface of the water, taking lungfuls of air to flush the water out of his system.

The Human climbed to the top of the ladder quickly, eager to talk to the Dragon.

“What’s got ya down, luv? You homesick? I can promise you that Mr. Morrison is doing everything he can to make you feel at home. You need something? I’ll getcha whatever you need, alright?”

The Dragon blinked at her. She spoke much faster than the other Humans did. Another strange speech pattern he had to decipher. They all sounded as different as they looked.

The yellow and blue man, the black and grey man, the white and big man, the yellow and short man, the black and tall woman, the child of the black and tall woman, the pretty yellow woman, the man with the removable head cover, the big and hairy man, the brown and plump woman, the purple woman, and now this brown cheery woman. It was a lot for him to keep track of.

“I’m serious! Name anything and I’ll get it to you right away, I will!”

The Dragon said nothing. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t know the words he would say to this Human.

“Hmm. Not much of a talker, are you? That’s alright. Let’s start with names! My name is Lena. What’s yours, luv?”

Name? Ah, he did know how to say his name. But, he found it strange. No one ever asked for his name. No one ever gave theirs. The was the first time he could put a name to a Human.

_ “Genji.” _

“Genji? That’s a nice name. Bet you remember all of the names of the fish you meet, huh? I could never tell some of these apart. People’s names are a lot easier. Everyone looks different, hm? Must be culture shock to ya.”

_ “I think…” _

“What’s it like being a big ocean snake?”

_ “Dragon.” _

“You prefer Dragon, big guy? Guess it does sound better than Ocean Snake. Well, what’s it like? Jack said you might be the last one. Are you the last one?”

_ “…No…” _

“So you got family, then? People at home waitin’ for ya?”

_ “Yes…” _

“Bet your family is big! You have lots of brothers and sisters?”

_ “…No…” _

“No siblings, huh? Not even one?”

_ “One…family. One Dragon. Not me.” _

“Only one…They got a name?”

_ “…Don’t know how I say name.” _ Genji gave it some thought. Even his own name was just a bunch of incoherent sounds to him that he meshed up. He figured that his brother wouldn’t mind if he gave a name that the Humans could understand.  _ “Hanzo?” _

“Hanzo? Sounds regal. I like it. Are they a man or woman?”

_ “Man?” _

“Your brother, then. You miss him much?”

_ “Yes…Lonely…” _

“I understand, luv. It must be hard to be away from him for so long. Were you two close?”

_ “Very.” _

“Do you have a mum or dad?”

_ “…No? No.” _

“I’m sorry to hear that. I lost my parents, too. But, it’s not so bad now. I have a new dad now. Mr. Morrison. Overwatch has given me a new family. I hope they can be yours until you get to go home.”

_ “Home…I want home…” _

“I’m so sorry, luv…I’m homesick, too. I grew up far away from where we are. The other side of the world, actually. But it’s ok…For me, home is a person.”

Something beeped on Lena’s belt. She took the black box off of her belt and talked into it.

“Oxton here.”

**“Lena, sweetheart. Ah hate t’ be a bother, but would ya kindly come here and supervise the seals? They don’t like me very much.”**

“Bloody hell Jesse, I told you that you got to do this on your own for once! Seals are just big sea dogs! They’re friendly!”

**“Sugah, they’re crushin’ mah lungs! At least send help!”**

“You’re a pretty large bloke. Why can’t you just shove it off? You can handle some sharks and an Angular Fish, but you can’t handle some bloody seals?!”

**“Lenaaaaa, my ribs are gonna crack!”**

“Fine! Fine! I’m coming. Just don’t die on me before I get there.”

She put the box back on her belt.

_ “Jesse?” _

“One of my friends. He needs help. Sorry to cut this short, luv.”

With that, she slid down the ladder and ran out the door, leaving Genji alone once again. The Dragon sunk back into the water, listening to the new fish tell him about his brother’s grief over him. He didn’t mean to make Hanzo worried. He hoped he could go home soon so that his brother would no longer mourn him.


End file.
